Internal combustion engines, including diesel engines, gasoline engines, gaseous fuel-powered engines, and the like, may exhaust a complex mixture of air pollutants including, for example, gaseous compounds and solid particulate matter. These air pollutants, which sometimes originate as components or natural impurities in fuel, can affect exhaust emissions, damage emission control devices, and increase secondary pollutant formation in the atmosphere.
Sulfur is a naturally occurring element in all crude oils. Heavy fuels derived from crude oil typically have higher sulfur content. Diesel fuels, for example, often contain sulfur and other substances that, at times, convert to potentially corrosive and environmentally unfriendly by-products. During combustion, sulfur is oxidized to sulfur dioxide (SO2) and minute amounts of sulfur trioxide (SO3). The resulting SO3 reacts with water vapor to form sulfuric acid. Once the exhaust gas cools, the resulting SO2 likewise reacts with water condensate to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid subsequently condenses downstream in the exhaust system to produce an acidic condensate.
Acidic condensates are a major cause of engine component corrosion, secondary wear from corrosion by-products, and engine oil acidification. Additionally, high sulfur fuel and its resulting acidic condensate can affect the performance and durability of combustion engine systems and their components, such as for example, Clean Gas Induction (CGI) systems, Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) systems, after-cooler systems (e.g., Air-to-Air After Cooling (ATAAC), and the like), turbocharger compressors, sensors, catalyst, and the like.
Consequently, there has been a consistent demand for lower-sulfur content in diesel fuels. Despite efforts to reduce sulfur content in fuels, however, exhaust system component corrosion, due to acidic sulfur by-products, continues to be a problem. This is particularly so in geographical regions where low sulfur fuel is unavailable. Moreover, even after fuels with very low sulfur content become routinely available, there may still be problems associated with poor fuel quality, batch-to-batch variation in fuel sulfur content, improper fuel selection, misfueling, and the like. At present, there are no reliable onboard methods for monitoring the sulfur levels of fuel utilized in a power source.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods for monitoring and detecting the quality of fuel utilized in a power source. There is also a need for improved systems and methods of controlling exhaust system, to mitigate damage from the components or natural impurities in fuel, which implement fuel quality detection.
A method for adaptively controlling automotive control systems, based on the automobile's geographic position, is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0182026 (“Faisal et al.”). Faisal et al. describes methods and systems for controlling the emission control systems based on the vehicle's geographic location. These methods, however, are limited to fine-tuning emission control systems or adjusting the emission control systems to comply with the emission requirements of the particular area. The methods disclosed in Faisal et al. do not provide for, for example, a system, method or apparatus that detects the quality of the fuel or that determines the mileage exposure of a power source to sulfur-containing fuels. Accordingly, there is a need for systems, apparatuses, and methods that implement fuel quality detection.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.